The Greatest Service The World Cup Did For South Africa

Image by Moses Msiza

Have you been to a PSL game recently? Have you watched a PSL game recently? Did you even notice anything different in stadiums?

Let me tell you what I’ve noticed, more voices. No, I don’t mean there are more bums on seats at the games now, but you can hear more voices because there is this little thing called the Vuvuzela that is hardly seen at the stadium anymore. 

Remember when the Vuvuzela was supposed to be for us what the Mexican wave was for Mexico in ’86? Something that the traveling soccer fanatics could take back to their homeland, and it would become part of the lexicon of future world cup tournaments.

Well, it didn’t happen the way we pictured did it…

The reception to our vuvuzelas was lukewarm at best, with many internationals not liking the idea that this instrumented was to replace chanting and singing at games. The vuvuzela was called noise pollution and a distraction at games. They tolerated it because it was our local thing that they had to deal with since they were coming to our country. They didn’t like it. The football fraternity had rejected our offering…

We started to question the use of the vuvuzela in our games, especially since the most enthralling fans in the PSL at the time, Bloemfontein Celtics never used to need them. So, over the years we have seen a decline in the use of the vuvuzela at our stadiums, which is great as it made the atmosphere at the stadium better and not just drowned out by noise.

The rejection of the vuvuzela by the world has been a blessing in disguise. Slowly but surely, we are bringing back singing and chanting (Boo’s don’t count as chanting) to the stadiums, which gets more fan engagement than what the vuvuzela did. It started making the stadium a tad more fun and family friendly again.

Phillip saw us making the necessary road back to a genuine atmosphere that did not involve the vuvuzela. Back to the type of atmosphere that was instrumental in giving our players nicknames and chants like ‘AAAACCCCCEEEEEE.’ 

The world cup might have created white elephants, but it also created the demise of that loud horn. For that, I’ll forever be thankful.

Insight: Middle Man Talks

In the midst of crowds cheering on their favourite player, often drowning out the instructions screamed out by the coaches and the constant cries for the ball to be passed to them by the players. There is the lone ranger running in the middle with a whistle in hand, officiating the game.

That whistle is many a time the only thing loud enough to pierce through a passionate group of fans roaring with all their might. Their only words are spoken using that whistle they are holding and any verbal words they have we never hear. This got me curious as to what the referees actually said during game pauses, as well as to the players and assistant referees.

Thanks to the YouTube channel, FOX Sports Australia, I finally got to see or should I say hear a glimpse of it.  A-League referee, Jarred Gillet got mic’d up for his 159^th and final game officiating in the A-League. The Championship bound ref really gave me a good idea of what sort of conversations referees have between themselves and players. Granted this game seemed to be more relaxed and cheerful than the games I’d normally see, lacking the seemingly verbal abuse from players body language would usually suggest in most games, it still was a good indicator in game-based decisions.

Mic’d up referees would be interesting in Africa, especially CAF games where a lot of fans including me feel referees are biased towards the home team or have been somehow corrupted. Hearing CAF referees could get us to understand their decisions or finally get the confederation acting on what is sub-par refereeing. I’d love to hear what our local PSL referees like Victor Gomes, Christopher Harrison, and Victor Hlungwani say during the games, especially in the big games.

Can you imagine the type of sound bites we would get if big league referees would be mic'd up? Referees would start being their own stars. 

Watch the video below. Which referee would you love to hear mic’d up?